Monday, 8 December 2008

My gorgeous darling friends Suzie & Georgie, who you will remember as my party planners, decided to hold their joint birthday party at the races! We were there a couple days after Melbourne cup so it was pretty full & all the fashionistas of Sydney were out in force!

Ben, Ben, Me & Suzie! If you look closely you can see that i have three drinks in my hands... Its not my fault everyone kept buying me one and i suddenly realised i had too many to hold! (so i was generous and gave them away! hahaha)

We spent many weekends in preparation & shopping for that perfect races outfit. I already had a dress that I was dying to take out on the town so I just needed a great hat & some fabulous shoes (and a couple odds and ends to complete it) and I was good to go!

I had such a great time. We spent the day with friends sipping champagne ever so elegantly in the stands, only stopping our chitter chatter and laughter every half hour or so to watch the horses go by.

Suzie & I on Ben's balcony - seriously, this is the view from his apartment! I have a bit of double-chinage going on but i love it! hahaha

After a very civilized day, a few of us carried on into the night.. well, it was more like the late morning! Either way, high five to Suzie & Georgie for a cracking birthday party!

Suzie & I

We met this guy at like 3am when Ben and I were the only ones left standing. This guy made me laugh so hard I just had to take a picture! My friend the next day was like "who's the guy in the helmet?" and Ben goes "there was a guy in a helmet! why didn't you tell me???" note to Ben - you took the picture crazy man!

The next day Ben & I went to the Newtown festival and nursed our hangovers sitting on the grass in the sun & eating gozleme. BEST.......HANGOVER..............CURE...........EVER! Hahaha.

On our way to the festival... looking a tad puffy eyed!

There were awesome stalls and I was about two millimetres away from getting my face painted like spider man but the line was huge and gozleme was calling me....

The festival - before it got way packed (facing away from the stages)

Anyway, that's was the eventful weekend that welcomed in Suzie & Georgie's 23rd year. Oh and i swear i will eventually get a better camera! one day... hehehe

Sunday, 7 December 2008

Its the time of year when everyone is buzzing around trying to figure out who wants what for Christmas. Well, while I will probably ask for practical stuff like a rice cooker (For some reason, cooking rice is a skill that eludes me!) what I really want is.....

Alright, so here is the wrap up of the books on my bedside table at this very moment... But as promise dto Ladybreeze I will be adding a Terry Pratchett this week... I love broadening my written horizons! Maybe i'll add something festive too :) tis the season!

~Across the Wall – Garth Nix.I cant provide much feed back on this one as I literrally started it today and havnt even gotten past the preface! Basically, it is a collection of short stories with a few of them relating to his Old Kingdom Trilogy which I started reading a couple years ago. Fingers crossed its a goodie!

~Poirot the French Collection – Agatha Christie.I know, I know... But she's written so many books that I will have to have one on my bedside table for the rest of my life just to get through them all! Hahaha

~Nostradamus, The Complete Prophecies for the Future- Mario Reading.I've been reading this book in bits and pieces for a few years now. Mostly because im an ancient history buff more than wanting to know what the future holds. But hey, I love a good conspiracy theory!

On my lap right now: Delicious Magazine and i'm savaging it with a blade by cutting out my favourite recipes to stick on my fridge... K's Aunty Marie would slap me if she knew I was doing it!

Wednesday, 22 October 2008

OMG I have loved Flight of the Conchords for years now. Ever since i saw them at the comedy festival. They are simultaniously my favourite comedy act & band! I have so much love for them. I have a massive crush on Brett :) Their claim to fame is being New Zealands fourth most popular parody duo.... Classic.

Anyway - let me leave you with a taste of their extreme awesomeness. Enjoy!

Sunday, 12 October 2008

As those of you who know me are aware, I LOVE reading. I get fully engrossed in a book (or several) and cannot put it down till im done. So here is a list of the books currently on my bedside table:

~ The Complete Battles of Hasting Volume 1- Agatha ChristieWhat can i say? Im a sucker for Hercule Poirot! He would bethe first person on my list of "If you could pick anyone, who would you pick to have dinner with?" followed by his creator Agatha Christie - she is a pure genius born in an era of femal suppression.

~ The Clarkson Collection - Jeremy ClarksonYou may know Jeremy from Top Gear. K is car mad and watches it religiously. So when i saw his book at the airport (one of my many trips interstate!) I couldnt pass it up. It was riddiculously cheap, only AU$17.00 on sale. It is a collection of his three books which are in turn a collection of his work from his colum in The Sunday Times (UK).

Firstly, a big thankyou to all those who sent me birthday wishes! It was very touching :)

Secondly - pictures of K & I progressivly through the nigh (notice my makeup dissapearing!). It was held at Capitan Torres in Sydney. 60 People turned out to wish me a Happy 21st and 4 family members flew in from interstate to be there! It was loads of fun and as always, the food was delicious!

I totally tried to take this picture myself like 5 times but i think my hand was drunk, ergo Ziggy took it for me :)

And Suzie & Georgie were my party planners and helped me enourmously. The theme was Black & Red and you can see most people complied!

This last photo was after some black sambucca shots and at about 3am so my makeup is pretty much all gone & i got changed into some different clothes because a floor length dress is suprising difficult after a couple drinks!

And that concludes it! You can see the complete collection of pictures on my Facebook page!

So, Maya used to have long locks, then progressed to a Posh style and then after a couple months went - what the hell, I'll just cut it all short. While Maya can rock every look and looked wicked cute with short hair it wasn't long till she was wanting her long hair back.

I cut my hair short about 2 years ago now (wow, its already been 2 years!) and i have been looking into hair extensions for a while. So it wasn't long before we found a place we liked and went - what the hell, lets just do it! The following is a peek into Maya's extension experience!

This is Maya's before shot! You can see it is quite short at the back and on the top, so it was lucky we got such a good stylist because you can barely tell afterwards!

The first few strands of hair! We both opted for human hair... barbie hair just isn't the look we were going for!

A close up of the micro-bead system... you could barely tell they were in there.

With most of the hair on!

And Voila!!! The finished product! Doesn't it look wicked natural!! If you would like some more info on the place we got it done, the cost or the experience please comment or email me and i will help you as much as i can!

Let me start by giving my sincere apologies. I know I have been absent for quite a period of time but i swear, i have a reason! (or several.....) It was mostly due to not having a suitable Internet connection, then party due to thinking we had to move house - which is still up in the air - and finally due to being so immensely busy lately! I give you my word i will start putting much more effort into it! especially with Christmas coming up & K visiting family in India & Dubai over Xmas & New Years (so i will have LOADS of free time!).... Needless to say i will be bringing you updates of all my holiday season mischief!

Anyway - there is plenty to look forward to! I will post pictures of Maya's & My Hair Extensions(yay!!), Pictures of my 21st and all my shenanigans in the last few months!

Also, you can see some of my Cupcakery at my sweet toothed blog - Sugar by Sunny.

Sunday, 15 June 2008

Wednesday the 11th of June was my gorgeous, wonderful, lovable partners birthday so we spent the week sick with chest infections in Melbourne - isn't that what everyone does? hahaha.

Luckily i freighted his birthday cheesecake all the way down before we were sick so it wasn't contaminated with my evil sick germs.

Either way, the cheesecake turned out great! I can thank Kel from Sweet Treats for the pic and the recipe as i was in no condition to take photos :) Although it looked almost exactly the same so that shows what a great recipe it is!

For all those Tim Tam lovers and cheesecake lovers find below Kel's recipe from her blog. it was delicious!

Method:Process chocolate biscuits until finely crushed. Add butter and process until just combined. Press biscuit mixture evenly over base of a 20 cm spring-form tin. Cover and refrigerate while preparing filling.Sprinkle gelatin over the water in a small heatproof jug.Stand jug in a small pan of simmering water and stir until gelatin is dissolved. Leave aside to cool slightly. Beat cream cheese & sugar with electric mixer until smooth. Stir in gelatin mixture, then chopped Tim Tams. Fold in whipped cream. Pour filling into prepared tin. Drizzle choc in parallel lines (about 1cm apart) across cheesecake. Pull a skewer backwards & forwards through choc to create a lovely pattern on the top of the cheesecake. Refrigerate cheesecake for about three hours or until set.

Sunday, 25 May 2008

These are the cupcakes i made to take to work tomorrow. They were leftovers from Pamela's order and i was sitting here thinking: "How on earth do I get rid of these?" and voila, B from work is moving house this weekend.... I'll give her the cupcakes! mwahahahahaha.....

Anyway they are vanilla butter cake topped with a layer of chocolate icing and then vanilla icing piped onto them. I was also trying to use up the rest of my icing! Then topped with the remaining blue white chocolate stars.

They turned out pretty well considering they are leftovers :) If only all my leftovers were as pretty!

Saturday, 24 May 2008

Well this week Pam from work asked me to cater for a baby shower she is throwing. I was honestly taken aback! I have no formal training other than a Creative Cake Design class i took at school for a couple years (i went to a creative arts school which gives you an extra 3 classes per week called 'Nova'). Anyway after i gave her some options she chose a double/triple decker cake and a batch of cupcakes. The only specifications were that the cake had to say "Tina and Vik's Baby Shower" or "Baby Shower".

I was nervous about the writing, as i don't have the best piping script, so i decided to do it in white chocolate. I piped the chocolate onto a piece of baking paper with a piping bag using a small writing nozzle. The hearts were a practice go with the piping bag to see how it would turn out, obviously it turned out well and i ended up using them! (and eating one :) ).

I let the icing set in the fridge overnight before i piped the border and stuck the letters on. I could have made it smoother but decided a few strokes here and there can hide any movement when placing the letters and hearts on the icing.

Cupcakes!! Here are the blue and white cupcakes. Both are vanilla icing. I piped the icing on all the cupcakes using a star nozzle. i decorated them with:

1. Smash up the milk arrowroot biscuits. By smash, i mean really hack into them. I prefer to put them in a freezer bag and have at them with a meat mallet or rolling pin. Picture your boss's face in the bag and that will get you going! You can also alternatively put them in a blender and blend until there are small chunks about the size of a fly. You can completely process if desired but i prefer a bit of texture in them.

2. Combine condensed milk, smashed arrowroot biscuits and cocoa powder in a bowl. Make sure your hands are clean and then get in there and get dirty mixing it all up. You can try and do it with a spoon or utensil of some variety but I'm telling you, its futile. Hands are the only way to go!

3. When the mixture is well combined and nice and sticky (and your hands are completely covered in it!) roll them into balls and then roll the balls into the dessicated coconut or chopped white chocolate until evenly coated.

4. Chill for about half an hour and them eat until your heart is content or your chocolate craving is gone :)

Makes about 30-50 truffles depending on the size of the balls.

I made these today for my work friend who is giving me driving lessons in exchange for food. I'm sure she will love them and the rest of the office will love the leftovers!

2. Place butter, 200g chopped chocolate and hot water in a heatproof, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, uncovered, on HIGH (100%) for 2 to 3 minutes, stirring every minute with a metal spoon, or until smooth.

4. Pour half the batter into cake pan. Chop remaining chocolate and sprinkle half over batter. Top with remaining batter and chopped chocolate. Bake cake for 55 to 60 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the centre has moist crumbs clinging.

5. Allow cake to cool completely in pan. Remove and dust with icing sugar. Serve.This cake keeps well for up to 1 week stored in an airtight container lined with baking paper.

I hope you enjoy it as much as i did! i like to heat my slice in the microwave for 40 seconds and then top with cream or ice cream and suddenly nothing else in the world matters!

2 In a bowl, combine the minced garlic with the melted butter. In another bowl mix together the bread crumbs, Parmesan, parsley, salt, garlic salt, Italian seasoning, and pepper. Dip chicken pieces into garlic butter, then into crumb mixture to coat. Double crumb if you want a crunchier finish.

3 Place coated chicken pieces on to a baking dish. Try to leave a little room between each piece. Drizzle with remaining garlic butter and bake uncovered 15 minutes, or until chicken is cooked through and juices run clear. Note that the chicken will get much more browned on the bottom side than on the top.

Serves 4-6 - or two very hungry people :)Try it for yourselves and you'll see what I'm talking about! The original recipe (which i have altered a little) came from http://www.elise.com/recipes/.

1. Parmesan Chicken Nuggets - and oh my lord you have never tasted a better nugget! i made mine as tenders rather than nuggets using tenderloins from my local deli (they were on sale). It was like heaven in my mouth. Even the minions scoffed them down and asked for more - and that's saying something seeing as it had green herbs on it :) this one is going in the must cook again list!

2. Scones - these went down extremely well at work. Everyone loved them and were amazed at how easy they were! I ate them with strawberry jam and whipped cream (the morning tea of kings!!)

3. Chocolate Mud Cake for Mothers Day - my mum (and minions) loved this and i couldn't believe how simple and tasty the recipe i found was. It took me all of 30 minutes to make and looked brilliant. This will definitely be one of my regulars.

Nearly everyone loves scones. I know i love to have some scones with jam and cream for a weekend brunch. They are so yummy that one is never enough. So for all you scone scoffers here is my favourite recipe:

Ingredients

4 cups Self Raising flour

300 ml Thickened Cream

350ml Lemonade

Method

1. Sift flour into bowl and make a well in the middle.

2. Pour cream and lemonade into the well of flour.

3. Mix until it makes a firm dough

4. Roll out and cut into rounds with a scone or cookie cutter.

5. Bake at 180C in a fan forced oven (200C if not fan forced) for about 10 - 20 minutes depending on the size of the scones. When they are golden on the top and fully puffed up take them out of the oven and cool on a wire rack.

6. Serve with strawberry jam and whipped cream when they are still warm.

2. Combine butter and peanut butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes or until melted and well combined. Transfer to a large bowl and let cool for 5-10 minutes.

4. Roll tablespoons of mixture into a ball. Place onto prepared trays and flatten slightly with a fork. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes or until golden and firm to touch. Stand 5 minutes on tray before transferring to a wire rack to cool.

Then take them to work/share with family/hide and keep to yourself.... and enjoy!

OK, your all shaking your heads at me going "oh sunny, will you ever learn?" but the answer is probably no!

Wednesday Lunch and a combination of laziness and an empty fridge result in a sausage roll from Michel's patisserie. Good old Michel's catering to all my fast food needs!

Thursday meant buying up big on multi vitamins... I have a thing called gout (no its not just for old Lady's its hereditary!) which means my body cant process uric acid which is found mostly in red wine, red meat and seafood. Therefore i don't get much Iron and Omega 3 at all. So.... introducing the woman's multi vitamin! The down side is that they are like horse pills! absolutely massive! Next on the list was some berrocca to give me back my B-B-Bounce! And because my lack of iron makes me very lethargic and without much energy some days. Hmm tropical flavour!

Fridays lunch was bacon and mushroom tortellini from the place down stairs who uses environmentally friendly take away bags... or so it says! We had a few drinks the night before so it was definitely what i needed to get me through the afternoon!

And of course, the watter bottle i told you about. I like red and thought this would look good on my desk. a whole $1.50 at the reject shop! Hopefully with the transformation challenge starting Monday it will get a work out this next month!

Saturday, 19 April 2008

I am very committed to bringing back femininity. I love the way a dress makes you feel girly, sexy, flirty, free and of course lady-like. So in the interest of spreading the gospel here is something i whipped up to encourage you all to jump in and be fabulous!

A Night on The Town

Nothing beats rocking a little black dress, but to make sure you don't look like the 20 other girls who are wearing LBD's spice it up with some colour. Don't forget a scarf - because no one wants to be caught outside in a LBD in winter. I just LOVE the feminine lines of this dress... I'm only going to say this once MEN LIKE CURVES!!

Pink Lady

A new twist on a classic. Note the classic lines of the dress - high cut and A-line. Chuck on a beige trench and some gorgeous drool worthy beige heels and your already dripping with class. A few girly accessories like this rose ring and the quilted pink bag and your the picture of femininity.

Sunshine During Winter

I'm loving this umbrella and the combination of the bright bold colours. Nothing makes you feel better than wearing bright clothes on a dreary lazy day. To really warm up on a cold day whip on some opaque stockings and a bondage style belt (corset style as everyone else calls it!). Just remember - open toed shoes and stockings don't work. I don't care how popular it becomes - its still tacky.

Cleopatra Eat Your Heart Out

I'll be the first to admit i love fancy dress in everyday life. In other words outfits that are inspired by a character/era/movie/cliche such as Cleopatra! note the masses of gold and green and arm bands. I love the neckline of this dress and its just SO perfect. Also don't forget matching nickers and a cocktail!

Child of the Fifties

Again, work the femininity in a big way. Pearls scream femininity no matter what. Love these heels from LAMB - Gwen Stephani - too bad they were $350.00!! The dainty jewellery sets the perfect scene... and a light pink dress just screams lady!

Child of the Sixties

Bright and flowing fabrics. work this as a mini dress and pile on the bright colours! Ready for a freak out yet?

If i were a princess...

This is totally what i would wear to my ball. Again, I'm in love with this umbrella! And the tiara is so Anastasia that it makes me squirm. Pair it with an elegant up-do or a half up half down with curls look. Throw in a shrug to keep your dainty princess shoulders warm and your ready to go. (I also threw in some orbit mints just in case you meet prince charming!)